1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an apparatus for fabricating tubes and, in particular, apparatus for both forming and coping, or cutting, tube ends on any plane of bend.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently there are a wide variety of machines available for straight tube end forming. There are also a number of machines designed for straight tube end coping sch as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,228 to Story. However, a machine that can perform both tasks is currently unavailable. In addition, a machine capable of forming tube ends in the bend section is also not available. Current manufacturers use a wide variety of techniques and tooling to form round tubing in a bent section. Typically, special tooling is designed to produce a specific part. This is very expensive and only practical when producing large quantities of parts since tooling cost is high and setup time is excessive. Manufacturers are using methods such as heating tubes with a torch and hammering them into a desired shape and techniques which incorporate tools with clamps that are hydraulically actuated to either expand or reduce a part to the desired shape such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,054. This type of tooling is expensive, and has limited value since some parts require forming deep into the bend section close to where the tube becomes straight, making this type of tooling ineffective.
What is thus desired is to provide a technique for finishing tube ends which overcome the disadvantages noted above and, in particular, provides an apparatus which can combine tube end forming and coping techniques.